Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1887-04-30
GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE.
WORSE THAN SLAVES.
The Poems of Mexico and Their
Helpless Lives.

Helpless Lives.
Ell PAso, Texas, April 19.-ISpecial cor
respondence 1.-The citizen of the United
States who fondly faneies that since the
emancipation proclamation slavery has
ceased to exist on this continent has only
to come down here to Ell Paso, look across
the narrow ribbon of the Rio Grande and
see the institution hourisning in all its
pristine uglinass. The only difference
between the system of peonage Of Mexico
and negro slavery is altogether in favor OF
the latter. There were kind masters in
the south, Of course, plenty of them, but
that does not alter the fact that when
slaves received good treatment, it was, in
most instances, because they We're prop
erty." A likely negro, worth all the way
from $1,000 to $500, would no more be
mistreated or overworkea than thorough
bred horse of similar value.
Peonage pronounced, by the way, pea
ownage, accent on the first syIlable,) is
simple in theory and complex in practice.
It is the attaching of labor for debt. A
species of judgment is obtained, and a
mans services belong to the creditor until
the debt is wiped out. So far it might be
worse, but (and here is the rub) the obi
cation does not end with the debtor, but,
like the Witch's curse in "Ruddygore,"
becomes hereditary and descends from
father to son until satisfied. This fact,
and the further fact that the bulk OF
Mexican poems are G the originaldebtors,
but the descendants of debtors. would seem
to indicate that a race of active prodigals
had once existed in the land; but, on the
contrary, most of the debts are under $50.
The incredible poverty and ignorance Of
the masses is the only explanation OF this
state of things. Not one in five hundred
can cast up the simplest form Of accounts.
A peon is allowed, at best, only a few
chackos a day, and a chacko is a cent and
a quarter. Out of this his food and cloth
ing are charged up, and occasionally in
terest is added to the original amount. So
it can be readily seen that instead of de-
creasing. the debt is gradually growing
larger and larger and the condition of the
poor wretch more and more hopeless.
Such IS peonage, compared to which
Russian serfdom was a pleasant state Of
society. The further inland the more
poems, and the arabic lands of Sonora and
Chihuahua are titled almost exclusively
by them. 4 large farm in these districts
resembles a slave plantation, except that
no care whatever is paid to the condition
Of the people. They are not worth it.
At the mines the same state Of things ex-
lists, and whether in the shaft Or chill
patch the peon works on, ~doggedly, hope
lessly. helplessly, born to it, not knowing
better or beyond. Food and clothing are
both kept near the vanishing point. A
little maize and a few chili-pods suffice
for one, and a pair of overalls, a cotton
shirt and straw sombrero for the other. A
pair Of coWhide boots are a usual reward
Of merit, and as they are used only on feast
days they will last a peon all his life, and
probably descend with the peonage to his
son. The women wear cheap calico gowns
and the children nothing at all. An out
Law of a few dollars will clotI1e a whole
family for a year, and an actual ~calcula-
ton shows that they consume about eight
cent worth Of food a week per capita.
Women can be peoned as well as men,
and the wife and children Of a peon, re-
CARELESS Of sex, share his burden Of bond
age. The rich old Mexieans are generally
on the lookout for special victims, and If
they take a fancy to any pretty girl, no
time is lost in peoning her nearest male
relative. A good many of them are no
torious for this sort of thing. "Honi soft
qui NAL y pense." It is ostensibly done
in the letter of the law, but the heart
breaking stories of all human ties dis
severed, of families shattered and lives
wrecked would make many a sad volume
if half the truth were told.
The first peon I ever saw was at Paso
del Norte, the Mexican town opposite Ell
Paso. ] was talking to a ranchman, when
his wagon was driven up by q native, the
most Wretched1y clad that ! had ever seen.
The weather was rather raw, but all the
man had on was q pair of ragged and blue
cotton oyeralls, a shickery' shirt and q
hat. He was bare footed and breathed